WND EXCLUSIVE

Impeachment articles filed against Eric Holder

'If the AG refuses to provide answers, then Congress must take action'

Published: 11/14/2013 at 4:23 PM

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The above video shows what most people would consider voter intimidation. In fact, a case in the U.S. Department of Justice was on the verge of producing convictions when Attorney General Eric Holder and his associates stepped in.

The case against nightstick-wielding members of the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia who were blocking entrance to a polling place on Election Day 2008 was dropped.

It is for this type of action that a member of Congress introduced articles of impeachment against the attorney general.

The accusations come from Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas, who issued a statement to WND Thursday noting that the U.S. already has voted, in 2012, to hold Holder in contempt.

“The pattern of disregard for the rule of law and refusal to be forthright has only continued,” he said. “The American people deserve answers and accountability. If the attorney general refuses to provide answers, then Congress must take action.”

“For nearly five years, Attorney General Holder has systematically deceived Congress and destroyed the credibility of the Justice Department in the eyes of the American people,” Olson said.

“During his tenure, Mr. Holder refused to cooperate with a congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious and the resulting death of a Border Patrol agent, refused to prosecute IRS officials who unlawfully disclosed private tax records to third party groups, and misled Congress about his involvement in the investigation of a journalist,” he said.

Politico reported the office of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, declined to comment on the impeachment resolution, referring calls to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.

The House panel would conduct any impeachment hearings against Holder.

In his own statement, Goodlatte did not indicate whether he would processed with impeachment but said Holder should resign.

Under Holder’s watch, he said, “there has been a lack of leadership and a politicization of the Justice Department.”

“Scandals from the Fast and Furious gunwalking operation to the seizure of reporters’ emails and phone records in national security leaks investigations have undermined the Department’s credibility and the American people’s trust. Attorney General Holder has also politicized the rule of law by refusing to enforce laws he doesn’t like,” Goodlatte said.

The Virginia congressman said the only way to restore credibility at the Department of Justice “is through an improvement in the quality of leadership.”

“President Obama should make a change in the leadership of the Department of Justice to restore the confidence of the American people in our nation’s top law enforcement agency,” he said.

Fast and Furious

Olson has organized his complaints into four articles.The first focuses on Holder’s refusal “to comply with a subpoena issued by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Oct. 12, 20011, in connection with a legitimate congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious … that put thousands of illegally purchased weapons into the hands of cartel leaders.”

Among other results of the action was the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry on Dec. 14, 2010.

The DOJ had denied “that gun walking had taken place,” Olson explained, but “this assertion was found to be false.”

The House Committee wrote seven times asking for information before issuing a subpoena for Holder, and “the Justice Department deliberately withheld documents, preventing the committee from performing its constitutional duty to conduct oversight.”

The actions violated federal law, which states that every person “who having been summoned as a witness by the authority of either House of Congress to give testimony or to produce papers upon any matter under inquiry before … any committee of either House of Congress, willfully makes default … shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 nor less than $100 and imprisonment in a common jail for not less than one month nor more than twelve months.”

Failing to enforce

Olson also charges Holder has refused to enforce federal law, including the Defense of Marriage Act and the Controlled Substances Act. It was with President Obama that Holder announced DOMA would not be enforced, because they considered it unconstitutional. Later he said federal laws against marijuana would be ignored when two states voted to make it legal.

“Attorney General Holder does not have the authority to unilaterally decide that certain laws will not be enforced. If the administration wants to change the law, it should ask Congress to amend it. Only the Supreme Court can deem laws unconstitutional,” Olson explained.

Don’t forget the IRS

The third article addresses Holder’s refusal to prosecute those involved in the Internal Revenue Service scandal of unauthorized disclosure of tax records of political donors.

“By refusing to prosecute IRS officials who had committed crimes, Attorney General Holder violated the oath he took when he was sworn in as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States on Feb. 3, 2009,” the congressman explained.

Olson explained that in May, Holder appeared before the House Judiciary Committee for its annual Justice Department oversight hearing.

“In response to a question from Rep. Hank Johnson regarding the use of the Espionage Act to prosecute members of the media, Mr. Holder testified, under oath: ‘Well, I would say this. With regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material, that is not something that I have ever been involved, heard of, or would think would be a wise policy.”

But Olson noted it then was revealed the DOJ had a search warrant for the emails of Fox News Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen, alleging that he was a possible co-conspirator to State Department employee Stephen Kim in violation of the Espionage Act.

“In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee dated June 13, 2013, Attorney General Holder wrote: ‘As you know, in the course of the ongoing investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of classified information that appeared in a news article in June 2009, the Department, with my approval, sought a search warrant for a reporter’s emails from an internet service provider.’

“In admitting that he approved the search warrant, Attorney General Holder directly contradicts his testimony on May 15, 2013. Clearly, Attorney General Holder knew that the Justice Department was investigating James Rosen as a co-conspirator in alleged violations of the Espionage Act as early as June 2009. Under the Privacy Protection Act, journalists cannot be investigated in order to obtain information about a third party. The fact that there was a search warrant carried out on James Rosen means that the Justice Department either intended to prosecute him, or the Justice Department clearly violated the Privacy Protection Act.’”

Holder’s statements about Zimmerman, who was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, effectively keeps Zimmerman from talking about the case, since anything he says on the record could be used against him.

“It’s been about race since he took over – one of the first things he did was that he killed the suit, which had already been won, against the [New] Black Panthers in Philadelphia who were involved in voter intimidation. That’s the amazing thing about it is that he is so transparent and that he has gotten away with so much, and no one calls him on it,” Cashill stated.